My friend gave this to me as a gift, she knows me as a bb cream freak so on my birthday she knew exactly what to give. Ooh I love her so much! Anyway, this comes in four variants & I was given "Clearing".. It's supposed to help with acne or if you are prone to break-outs, this is for you. I can't vouch for its effectiveness in terms of clearing up the skin because I am mainly using this as a bb cream/foundation and not a treatment of some sort. Moving on! First of all, I love the fact that it has an added spf of 30 but if you're going for a swim or just be exposed to the sun a lot, don't ever replace this for your sunblock! Shade wise, this adjusts pretty well! Looks a lot better than my Missha Pore Cover which is too too grey for my liking. This is pretty neutral though & has the right amount of yellow to it too. For reference though, I have fair skin with yellow undertones. Coverage wise, it can go from light to medium although I wouldnt suggest trying to build it up to a full one because as with all foundations, it cakes. It stays for a decent amount of time - about 3 hours before I have to completely touch up or blot my t-zone. The price can't be beat as well so overall, I would definitely definitely recommend!!! xx

Woooow. I was not expecting this kind of quality from an inexpensive BB cream! It matches my NC20 skin tone and the tea tree oil really does control my oil. This Holika Holika BB cream provides light coverage (about the same as Skin79's Hot Pink BB). For me this means it tones down the redness in my skin and lightens my SF/blackheads, but doesn't cover up blemishes. This is also one of those BB creams that requires a touch-up after ~6 hours if you have oily skin like me. I use this daily and am defintely going to stock up!!

**edit Nov. '14** As cold weather sets in, I've found the matte finish unflattering for my drier cheeks and I am on the hunt for a better BB + moisturizer combo. In the meanwhile, I'll stick to using this Holika Holika BB cream on my T-area only.

Price:This is a very affordable range of BB Creams, at around AU$6 each from ebay sellers in Korea. I love that there are 5 different types for different skin types & needs, but unfortunately they all come in just 1 colour. I don't think they make sample sachets, and I believe this has to do with their already affordable price. So it's a cheap gamble to make in order to find out if the 1 shade or the formula will suit you, but a gamble nonetheless.

Packaging:The packaging is a squeeze tube with a twist on cap. There is no pump, but the nozzle has a decent sized opening with a flat top, so it's very easy to wipe off after dispensing product. It's also very easy to control how much product is squeezed out, and very secure to travel with as the cap doesn't just pop off leaving a pump exposed.

Consistency:I used this a few years ago so I can't remember if the consistency was very runny or a thicker cream.

Application:I do remember that this BB Cream blended out really easily. I just used my fingers to apply it, never tried a brush or sponge. It didn't dry too fast and I had enough time to spread it around, blend out the edges and stipple away any streaks before it dried.

Coverage:I have quite normal skin and don't have breakouts year round, but tend to break out in Summer due to producing oil & sweat. I don't have large pores, just pinprick ones on my cheeks, and some fine lines around my eyes. I have fair skin with a mix of light and dark freckles, a little redness around my nose, some red marks from past blemishes and slight undereye circles.

I found that this BB Cream has a solid medium coverage, it completely covered the redness and darkness but didn't cover all of my freckles.

Finish:Because this BB Cream is targeted towards oily and blemish prone skin, it does dry to a completely matte finish. I don't think it would be buildable. It smoothed over my slightly visible pores nicely, but I did look a bit crepey under the eyes so I recommend applying eye cream before using this (regardless if you have fine lines or not, you don't want to dry out that area!).

In Summer I can get quite oily on my chin and remain comfortable and shine free everywhere else, but in Winter my skin gets quite dry all over. I would never attempt to use this on my normal skin in Winter, but oily skinned gals might love it year round.

Scent:I do not remember the scent, sorry!

Colour:A lot of Korean BB Creams are too dark for me, but this Clearing one is SO pale with yellow undertones. It's a perfect match for my neck, which is much paler than my face and is what I prefer to match my base products to. For an easy universal reference, Revlon Colorstay in Ivory is too dark for me.

Wear:I used this in Summer with no moisturiser underneath, and it lasted all day without turning cakey or looking dry as the day progressed. It was moisturising enough that I didn't produce excess oil to combat its matte finish. My skin felt normal when I removed it, I didn't feel dried out from the matte finish & Tea Tree Oil. But, it broke me out. Badly.

OVERALL:Unfortunately, I didn't realise this contained Tea Tree Oil when I ordered it and began using it. I had tried using TTO on pimples in the past because everyone raved that it's a great zit zapper, but it never did anything for my blemishes. This was the product that finally drove the point home - my skin hates Tea Tree Oil. I'm not sure if I'm just sensitive to it or if I'm completely allergic to it, and I don't know the % of TTO in this BB Cream, but broke me out in large, deep, painful zits. It didn't cause a breakout the first day, but during the second day I could feel "blind" zits forming, the ones that are a red bump with no whitehead. On the third day, it created even more and the existing ones became painful. I stopped using it and the zits went away within a few days.

This is not a bad BB Cream at all, it's just not right for my skin. If your skin reacts positively to TTO you might really like this and it might actually help clear up your breakouts. If you're really pale you'll love it on its own, but if you're anything darker than pale you might want to use this as a "treatment" primer underneath a foundation or BB Cream that matches your skin. Whatever your skin type, I recommend applying eye cream and moisturising any dry or flaky patches beforehand.

Also, I highly recommend an oil cleanser to remove facial makeup, whether it be BB Cream or foundation. Regular makeup removers don't clear everything away. You can even just use Extra Virgin Olive Oil if you don't want to purchase an Oil Cleanser. The oil breaks down ALL the makeup on your skin so it washes away leaving no residual product. Please don't forget to double cleanse (Oil Cleanse to remove the makeup then follow up with your regular cleanser).

I got this one in clearing because I have zits. I got it when I was getting a batch of other stuff. Sometimes international food stores have it but there isn't a Holika Holika brick and mortar store around here. Which is a shame because there is a "Charmed" theme, hence the cat and witch logo lol.

It's an okay foundation and has a decent amount of pigment. If your skin color has a neutral or olive (not pink) undertone, and is between classic ivory and buff beige, sand beige etc in American brands, this will be a good fit. It's definitely more affordable than L'oreal et al.

It's the same price range as Wet n Wild or ELF. For me, it works whether or not I got dark from the sun. When I bought Cover Girl, I think my color was neutral buff. I like how the Holika Holika has a lot of coverage so sometimes I just dab it on my zit area.

This is especially good for that because unlike some creams, it doesn't have instant whitening. I haven't noticed it actually clearing up my pimples, but it's less comedogenic and more matte than other foundations.

It's less oily than the other popular Asian brand, Secret Key, and a similar product to Beauty Angel or Clever Cat. It's a little more pricey than Beauty Angel and Clever Cat though. Beauty Angel is $2 for a big tube. But, it's less pale than CC creams. CC creams are generally pale.

If you need to use a concealer over this BB cream, ELF cover sticks and concealers are great, and don't bead up.

I probably got one of the worst type of skin: very oily, acne prone and super sensitive skin. This will not prevent break out but if ure looking for a very good coverage non-aggravating bb cream then this is for u. I use a blender sponge and blend this all over the face and use johnson's loose powder and use my palm to spread it.I lasts for more than 8hrs for me. Goodbye to all expensive foundations and bb creams.:)